How to find new WooCommerce stores, and what to pitch them

To find new WooCommerce stores, find new websites first and then check which of them run WooCommerce. A new WooCommerce store has no shared address like Shopify's myshopify.com, but it almost always gets an HTTPS certificate when it goes live, and that certificate lands in public logs. Read those logs or a feed built on them, confirm the platform in the page source, and you can reach the owner while the store is still a few days old.

Why are new WooCommerce stores harder to find than Shopify stores?

Shopify runs every store on one platform, so every store starts life on a myshopify.com address. Search that address on Google and you get a rough list of early Shopify stores. WooCommerce has no address like that.

WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress site into a shop. The owner installs it on their own hosting and their own domain. A new store could sit on any host in the world, under any domain, with any theme. Nothing about the address says WooCommerce.

That matters for you in two ways:

• It is harder to build a list. Google searches that work for Shopify mostly do not work here.
• Fewer people are pitching these owners. Much of the store prospecting advice out there is built around Shopify. A WooCommerce owner who launched last week may not have heard from anyone yet.

Here is how the two compare from the outside:

How do you confirm a site runs WooCommerce?

You will check a lot of new sites, so make this fast. Any one of these signs is usually enough.

Check the page source

Open the homepage, view the source (Ctrl+U on Windows, Cmd+Option+U on a Mac in Chrome) and search for:

• wp-content/plugins/woocommerce, the folder WooCommerce loads its files from
• woocommerce in a class name, such as woocommerce-page on shop pages
• wc-ajax, which WooCommerce uses for things like updating the cart on classic theme setups, so it may not appear on every homepage

If you see wp-content but nothing from WooCommerce, the site is probably WordPress without a WooCommerce shop. That might still be a client, but not a store.

Check the addresses

WooCommerce sets up a few standard pages when it is installed, and most owners keep the default addresses:

Owners can rename all of these, so a missing /shop/ page proves nothing. When they are there, it is a strong hint, and /my-account/ most of all. Confirm it in the source.

Count the products

The catalog size tells you how big a job you are offering. The /shop/ page usually shows a count such as Showing 1 to 12 of 40 results. WordPress also builds a sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml on most sites, unless an SEO plugin replaces it with its own, often at /sitemap_index.xml with a separate product list. A store with 15 products needs different help from one with 1,500.

Where do new WooCommerce stores show up first?

You want stores that are open, real and only days or weeks old. These sources get you there, and all of them can be started for free.

Public certificate logs

Almost every site now loads over HTTPS, and every certificate browsers trust is written to open logs under a system called Certificate Transparency. That covers a new WooCommerce store too, often on the day the owner points the domain at their host. Search the logs yourself for free at crt.sh.

The catch is the sifting. For every new store you will find test servers, parked domains, mail servers and subdomains of big companies. You then have to open each real site and check its source for WooCommerce. It works, but it is slow.

Vetted Leads reads those logs for you. It visits each new site, checks that it is a real business or store, and labels the platform it runs on, WooCommerce included. It also lists what the homepage is missing, such as no meta description, images with no alt text, no social preview image, no favicon, an old copyright year or pages loading over plain http. Every email in the feed has been checked with its mail server before it gets there. As of 2 November 2026 the feed held 75,301 leads, 52,407 of them with a verified email, and 1,937 of them launched in the previous 24 hours. You can try it with 3 free contacts, once, plus the newest 50 leads each day, with no card. Filtering the feed to WooCommerce only comes with a paid plan, which is on the pricing page.

Google searches

Google helps less here than with Shopify, but a few searches still turn up stores in one niche:

The last one is useful. WooCommerce creates a product category called Uncategorized, at /product-category/uncategorized/, and an owner who leaves it showing has not finished setting up. Google results are never complete and change daily, so treat this as a shortlist.

Communities

The r/woocommerce subreddit has owners asking for help with their store, often with a link. Treat these threads the way you would treat any community: answer the question first with something useful. Only write privately if they ask or the rules allow offers.

Your own web design clients

If you build WordPress sites, some of your past clients may be thinking about selling online. A note asking whether they have thought about adding a shop costs nothing and goes to people who already trust you.

What should you check on a new WooCommerce store in five minutes?

You are not doing an audit. You want to know three things: is the store real, does it have a gap you can fix, and what one true sentence will you open your email with. Run the same checks in the same order each time and it soon takes less than five minutes.

Minute one: is it open?

Are there real products with prices and a working cart? Add one item to the cart and look at the checkout page, without buying. If the site still shows a Coming Soon page or a maintenance screen, note the domain and come back next week.

Minute two: leftover WordPress defaults

New WordPress sites come with placeholder content, and a lot of owners forget to remove it. Look for:

• A Sample Page in the menu, or at /sample-page/
• A Hello world! post on the blog, or at /hello-world/
• The Uncategorized product category from the search above, in the shop sidebar or filters
• An empty tagline, or the old default Just another WordPress site

Any one of these tells you the owner launched before they were done, and it makes a gentle, specific opening line.

Minute three: how it looks on Google

Search the store's name and read the result. Then view the source and search for name="description". WordPress does not add a meta description by itself, so unless the owner installed an SEO plugin such as Yoast or Rank Math that sets one, there is none, and Google picks its own text from the page. On a new store that can be a menu or the cookie notice. Google explains how it chooses that text in its guide to controlling snippets in search results.

Minute four: the browser tab and the share test

Look at the browser tab. A blank icon, or the WordPress logo, means nobody set a site icon. Then paste the homepage link into a chat with yourself. If no picture appears, the store probably has no social preview image, which hurts any shop that relies on people sharing links. To be sure, search the source for og:image.

Minute five: product photos and the decision

Open the best seller. Right click the main photo, choose Inspect and look at alt. If it is empty (alt="") or missing, the image has no alt text. WordPress has an alt text field for every image in the media library, and new owners often leave it empty. Then write one sentence: the gap you would lead with and what it costs the store. If you cannot write it, skip the store.

Here is what each gap means to the owner, which is the part your email should say:

Which WooCommerce stores should you skip?

Skipping the wrong stores saves more time than any shortcut. Leave these alone:

• Stores behind a Coming Soon page. Come back when they open.
• Stores that already have help. A filled in meta description, a share image and tidy product pages usually mean a developer or agency set it up.
• Big brands moving to WooCommerce. A new domain can belong to a large company with an in house team.
• Sites with WooCommerce installed but nothing for sale. Some themes load WooCommerce files even when the shop is empty.
• Stores that look abandoned. No products, broken images, a contact address that bounces.

What should you send a new WooCommerce store owner?

Keep it short. Make one true observation, name one gap they can check in seconds, say what it costs them and make the reply easy. Do not attach an audit, promise sales or use jargon.

Sample email: the leftover Sample Page

Subject: A leftover page on Hollow Oak Coffee

Hi Daniel,

I came across Hollow Oak Coffee this week. I liked the brewing notes on each bag.

One thing I noticed: your menu still links to a page called Sample Page, which WordPress adds to every new site. A customer who clicks it lands on placeholder text, which makes a new shop look unfinished. Your homepage also has no search description yet, so Google is picking its own text for you.

Both are quick fixes. I set up WooCommerce stores for small food and drink brands, and I would be happy to sort these two for you.

Want me to send the search description I would write? No charge for that part.

Priya

The store and the names are made up to show the shape.

Sample follow-up

If there is no reply after four or five days, send one follow-up that gives away what you offered:

Hi Daniel, following up on Hollow Oak Coffee. Here is the description I would use: Small batch single origin coffee, roasted weekly and posted to your door. It goes in your SEO plugin's homepage settings. Happy to remove the Sample Page and set up the rest if you would like.

If that gets no answer, move on.

Why this works

• Daniel can check it himself in ten seconds by clicking his own menu. He does not have to trust a stranger's score.
• The ask is tiny. Saying yes to a free description takes one word.
• Naming the Sample Page shows you know WordPress: where the page came from and how to get rid of it.

Follow the email rules that apply to you and the store. In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act covers business email: be honest about who you are, use a subject line that is not misleading, make clear the message is an ad, include a valid postal address and a way to opt out, and honor opt-outs within 10 business days. The sample leaves that footer out to keep it short; yours should not. UK and EU rules can be stricter, so check before you write to stores there.

What should you offer first?

A small, fixed job the owner can see. Someone who just paid for hosting, a theme and stock is careful with money, and a monthly retainer from a stranger is a big ask. Price it as a fixed fee they can say yes to without a call.

That last one leads into a care plan: a monthly fee for updates, backups and small fixes. WordPress sites need plugin and core updates, and many new owners do not know that yet. One fixed job done well is often how that conversation starts. The find web design clients page shows how designers use new launches to keep that first conversation coming.

What mistakes waste time with WooCommerce prospects?

• Assuming WordPress means WooCommerce. Check the source. Plenty of WordPress sites sell nothing.
• Pitching speed scores. A low score on a cheap host means nothing to the owner. Talk about what they can see.
• Not rechecking before you send. New stores change daily. The Sample Page you noticed on Monday may be gone by Wednesday.
• Claiming what you did not test. Do not say checkout is broken unless you went through it, or that emails never arrive unless you signed up and waited.
• Treating it like Shopify. The fixes live in different places. Telling a WooCommerce owner to look in Online Store, then Preferences shows you did not look.

How many stores should you contact each day?

Pick a pace you can keep. This fits into an hour:

1. 15 minutes: build the list. Twenty new stores from a feed, the logs or searches.
2. 10 minutes: first pass. About 30 seconds each. Drop the closed, the big brands and the ones already set up well.
3. 25 minutes: five minute checks on the best five.
4. 10 minutes: write three short emails, one gap each.

That is about 60 careful emails a month. Keep a sheet with one row per store: name, address, niche, main gap, second gap, contact, date sent, follow-up date and reply. A few weeks of rows will show you which gaps get answers.

If you also want Shopify stores, the checks are different but the routine is the same; see how to find new Shopify stores and reach them first.

Where should you start today?

Pick one niche you know, such as coffee, candles, pet goods or clothing. Find twenty new sites, keep the ones running WooCommerce, run the five minute check on the best five and send three emails about the clearest gap on each. If you would rather start from stores that launched this week, with the platform labelled, the homepage gaps already listed and the emails checked, Vetted Leads gives you 3 free contacts to try it, no card needed.